A modern take on the W.O.P.R. missile launch sequence from the 1983 movie War Games.

I love the movie War Games - It was one of my first glimpses into computers and how they could be connected, and I thought that the W.O.P.R. computer in the movie was amazing, with all of it's flashing LEDs and computer noises.

But most of all, I loved the intense missile unlock sequence in the movie. W.O.P.R. guessing the unlock code, while Matthew Broderick tries to teach it that no one ever wins. It was exciting and I always wanted to make a "replica" of that unlock sequence... and I finally did!

It's a very versatile display. It can be programmed to display any messages, and because it runs off a TinyPICO + Audio Shield, it can play sounds/music, has WiFi and BT so it's a fully-featured IoT device, with a sexy display made from 12x 14 segment digits.

What are the 5 numbers?

The 5 Acrylic numbers at the top right are DEFCON numbers, used in the project (and in the movie) to show the current defense condition, 5 being at peace and 1 being at war. These numbers are lit up by the RGB LEDs that come pre-assembled on the PCB.

What's in the kit?

The kit comes with everything you need to build your W.O.P.R display. A few components come pre-assembled on the PCB for you as they have plastic cases and can't be hand soldered easily.

PCB (With RGB LEDs and 1 100nF capacitor pre-assembled)

6x Red 2 digit 14 segment displays

4x 10k 0805 resistors

3x HT16K33 LED drivers

3x 100nF 0805 capacitors

2x 47k 0805 resistors

2x Schottky diodes

2x Large tactile buttons

1x Small tactile button

1x Acrylic front plate

1x 3D printed back

4x mounting screws and nuts

5x Acrylic defcon number inserts

4x 10 pin female headers

1x Assembly card

Optional:

1x TinyPICO

1x TinyPIXO Audio Shield

Is there any code?

Yup! I have put together some code that implements a few different features, including an NTP clock, a movie unlock sequence simulation, and a "display whatever message" random unlock sequence.

The included features are selectable via a menu on the display (right button is menu, left button start) so feel free to add more features to it!

The code is open source under the MIT license, and is available via the link below.

What else can this display be used for?

Well, it's a fancy IoT display, so it can be used for all sorts of "connected" tasks, like a schedule/task reminder system, an online messaging system, social media counter, pager?

If you think up a cool use for the display, please let me know!

Do I have to use a TinyPICO?

No, you don't have to use a TinyPICO for the display, you can wire in a different ESP32 micro-controller board if you want, but it's not going to look as neat :)
Here's a hookup guide for the pins you need to connect:

The Arduino code linked to below is written to run specifically on an ESP32, utilising ESP32 only functionality like RMT for the RGB LEDs. If you'd like to use a non-ESP32, you'll need to hack the code yourself to get it working.

Find out more about what I do

Check out my youtube channel to see the history of the Reflow Master as well as lots of other videos about the projects I work on!

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